Akira Reaction
by Zapenstap
Summary: Raging, analytical, dissecting, fascinated reaction to a firsttime viewing of Akira.


Most of my stuff is Gundam Wing. If you're a fan of my GW stuff, you're in the wrong place. If you're an Akira fan, welcome!

AKIRA REACTION

It has been almost one week since I first watched Akira. I meant to write my reaction right away, when it was REALLY bothering me, but I couldn't organize my thoughts. At this point, I don't care if my thoughts are organized. I need to write them down and share them with other people who understand if I ever want to move on with my life.

After I finished the movie, I was freaked out, disturbed and raging with disgust. I wasn't disgusted with the movie. I don't have an aversion to animated violence or anything (although the expanding inside body-parts was a little much for someone who would rather not be in a hospital or see, hear or experience surgery). I probably would only advise the movie to others with a very strong warning for graphics, but what really pissed me off was Neo Tokyo and Tetsuo's completely hopeless situation.

Halfway through the movie I was like "there is no hope for you. Something truly horrible will inevitably happen to you," and I was right. This was a result of my reaction to Neo Tokyo and the background of Kaneda's gang more than his sudden psychic powers. I was almost glad when the city got obliterated. Good riddance. I doubt Sodom and Gomorrah could compare to the base existence of Neo Tokyo. I rather be a thrall in Angband than live in Neo Tokyo, at least in Tetsuo's situation. Who the hell would move there in the 30 years it's been around?

Let me explain what bothers me about Neo Tokyo. It may just be Kaneda's gang that bothers me since their lives are the only ones we really have much insight to, but I doubt it. It seems to me that Neo Tokyo is a bubbling cauldron of sex, drugs, violence, callousness, and a brutal peace-keeping force. Civilians were shot down arbitrarily. Tear-gas was used on crowds when it wasn't really necessary, bike-gangs composed of members technically too young to drive are killing each other in the steets and _nobody_ cares! It's horrible. Kaneda's gang is a bunch of young juvenille delinquints, mostly orphans who have nothing but each other and their leader is a little irresponsible in managing them. And it's not their fault, not really, but the only way to go was down.

Okay, so that's the setting. Then there's Tetsuo. I liked him the minute he had the bike accident because I feel sorry for people in pain. I was like "poor guy! I wonder where they're taking him." I knew he was a bastard from the way he took out those Clowns, but I still felt sorry for him. By the time I knew more about Tetsuo and what was going on I knew he was doomed. Tetsuo is in the same situation as the other gang members, only he is the least of them. Basically, he has nothing, and he gets his will to survive by constantly trying to prove his strength, mostly through unnecessary violence, like when he beat up that Clown and Kaneda had to stop him before he killed the guy. He's emotionally unstable, feels he's unloved and unwanted, and wants respect more than anything else. That's pretty common, but there's a reason we don't want weapons in the hands of people like that. The minute someone like that realizes power they have to use it, have to to prove to "the world" that 1. they exist 2. they matter and 3. they're meant to be taken seriously. In Tetsuo's case, this involves raging about the city destroying things and people, not trusting anybody in an effort to stay independant. Sadly, real greatness comes from having power and knowing when _not_ to use it, which is why Tetsuo was "king of the garbage" and nothing more. Tetsuo blames Kaneda for much of his pain, expecting Kaneda to care for him, which Kaneda actually does though he handles it badly, but Tetsuo doesn't realize that.

Poor Kaneda. It's not really his fault. He's too young to have better discerning abilities. He treats Tetsuo like a younger brother actually, but younger brothers don't usually like the way their older brothers treat them. And Tetsuo doesn't recognize the relationship, that he's picked on out of affection; he just thinks Kaneda treats him like he's weaker and of less worth than the rest of the gang. And he is weaker, but Kaneda doesn't really look at it like that. And of course, there's the bike. Tetsuo is jealous that Kaneda seems to have everything as leader and Kaneda is totally unaware of Tetsuo's envy.

All we need to aggravate this situation is some seriously strong drugs and psychic powers. Tetsuo was already feeling jealous, abandoned, afraid and enraged. Give him power and he's a walking time bomb. It's not really surprising that he freaks out and searches for glory and power more addictive than the drugs. His head is thoroughly messed up. He can't tell up from down. He remembers pain, emotional and physical, and he wants revenge against the world and power and respect for himself.

He's pretty evil, in a sympathetic way. One can never really tell how good or evil a person is until they're given the power and authority to make something of it. A good person given Tetsuo's power would have respectful fear of it. They might even want to get rid of it, but as soon as Tetsuo realized what he good do, he started picking fights and killing people. Some of that might be the drugs, or withdrawal from the drugs, but he was also clearly high on power. He killed his enemies, he killed his friends, he killed total strangers, and by the time he realized he was out of control, it was too late; he had distanced himself from anybody who could help him. Kaneda was out to stop him, by killing him if he could, and everyone else was dead.

Except Kaori, the girlfriend. I really think Kaori's the most tragic figure in this movie. She's like Ophelia in Hamlet. The only thing she does wrong is get too close to somebody's who really doesn't care enough about her to make it worth her while. And she dies for her devotion. Of course, she _needs_ a guy. She needs a protector. That's just the situation for a weak girl in a place like Neo Tokyo. Kaori kind of makes sense with Tetsuo because she's meek and nurturing. Unlike the other girl that hangs out with Kaneda and makes fun of the gang for being useless without their bikes, Kaori is naturally affectionate and totally devoted to one person. But Tetsuo's transformation later terrifies her. In trying to help him, she gets killed. She was the one person Tetsuo didn't want to kill, the one he begged Kaneda to save, but of course, it was too late for both of them.

I'm not sure it's really necessary for Tetsuo to _mutate_ when he loses control at the end. I mean, I don't know why his destruction took that form. I'm not really sure why his power manifested in that way. Obviously, he lost control, but why did his body expand when it's his mind that had been transformed? I also don't understand how he was stopped. I know the old children summoned Akira and asked for his help, but I'm not sure exactly what Akira did to help. I'm not even really sure what happened to Akira or what Akira did 30 years ago when Tokyo was first destroyed. Did he self-detonate to kill himself and find peace, or did he lose control like Tetsuo? Why didn't Akira mutate? Why was it necessary to blow up the city? Did he transform into some other being, like light, or did he destroy his body and his conscious remained alive in some sort of void, or did he die, or what the hell happened? And did Akira do the same thing TO Tetsuo, or did Tetsuo do it to himself? If anybody wants to help me with that one, you're more than welcome. Kaneda holds up this little speck of light after it is all over and declares that he doesn't know if Tetsuo. Yeah, me either. Tetsuo coming to some place of light (another universe?) and saying "I am Tetsuo" doesn't really help either. He could say that in death as well as some other form of life. A little clarification on the mechanism please.

As for the children, why are the old? They have psychic abilities, yes. They were being trained by the government with Akira all those years ago. Obviously they're not really children. They have to be like 40, but they look older than that even. I think it has to do with the drugs, but I guess I don't know why or how drugs would do that. In order to control their powers, they have to take the drugs, and the drugs age them. Is this a side-effect? Or is it on purpose? Perhaps the government wants to keep them children in order to better control them. Their minds are more evolved; perhaps their realities depend more on their beliefs than on fact like with regular people? If they believe they are children, they will remain as children, in some ways. Perhaps that is also the reason for making them live in a "kindergarten room" as Tetsuo scornfully calls it. Children can be controlled. But I don't really know, and I haven't been able to find the answer. You can enlighten me on that too.

One last rant against the government and then I'm done. What the hell are they thinking with this Akira project anyway? That's got to be the stupidest idea I've ever heard. They want to manufacture human weapons out of…children. It goes wrong (inevitably) and initiates WWIII. And here they keep going at it. And then they decide that Tetsuo is a good test subject? Yeah, let's give nuclear weapons to unstable teenagers with no method of controlling them. And then we'll terrorize them with the illusion of gigantic teddy bears, cars and rabbits trying to kill them. That's a great idea! Or wait, no... I don't know. I just don't understand how anyone could be that cruel, that narrow, that petty and that oblivious to imminent disaster.

Well, at any rate, it was a fascinating movie and this has been my trite analysis of it. I didn't cover everything, but I think I got the stuff that interests me most. Great movie. I almost couldn't get rid of it quick enough initially, I was so enraged and disturbed, but now I plan to watch it again. Maybe it will make more sense this time.

zapenstap


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